FBI head Comey and the 2016 election: Echoes of J. Edgar Hoover

Four days after losing the presidency to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton spoke about the result. Conceding “there are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” the Democratic candidate cited as one significant factor FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress, 11 days before the election, alerting it to a renewed investigation of her emails. Clinton said the letter “raised doubts” about her candidacy over “groundless” and “baseless” charges that the bureau had already investigated and dismissed.